


From a General to a Paladin

by The_Useless_Cucumber



Series: General Keith: A Collection [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, General Keith (Voltron), I'm not sure why I wrote this, Keith grew up in space, Keith is one of Lotor's generals, POV Keith (Voltron), Red Paladin Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 10:46:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19424404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Useless_Cucumber/pseuds/The_Useless_Cucumber
Summary: Keith's life was practically charted for him since birth. Being chosen as the Red Lion's paladin was a pleasant surprise but one that didn't ruin any plans for his future. Or rather, it didn't until he's found by other paladins. Maybe he could use them to his advantage?





	From a General to a Paladin

If someone had told Keith how his week was going to end, he probably would have called them crazy, stabbed them, and then told the rest of his team about it over their breakfast so they could laugh at the poor soul. It was difficult enough believing in the fairy tale that was Voltron. And they had proof of its existence docked in their hangar! But he isn't one to argue when the facts are laid out clearly before him, no matter what Axca says. And the facts are, there are Paladins of Voltron out there, they're nearby, and he can hear their conversation over the coms.

The day had started normal for him. He got up, ate with the others, practiced on the training deck, sparred with Zethrid, lost to Zethrid, showered, tried that meditation thing Ezor said was supposed to be good for him, abandoned that within a few dobashes, and then asked if it was safe to fly Red. The main change was that he was given permission to fly her for a bit. Lotor preferred to keep Red in her hangar, out of sight. They weren't supposed to have her, after all. And they were typically too close to potential threats for him to feel comfortable in allowing Keith to pilot her as he pleased. After all, it would end poorly if the exiled Prince Lotor was found in possession of the missing Red Lion, which had been stolen right off of Commander Sendak's ship.

But it had been deemed safe enough and Keith had been given permission to fly. He had wasted no time rushing to her hangar and climbing inside. Red purred inside his mind the second he set foot inside of the cockpit. She didn't like being cooped up like this. He could feel her dislike of being stagnant. He supposed it had to do with the fact that she hadn't had a proper pilot in ten thousand years, and yet, now that she had one, she still wasn't allowed to fly freely. He could feel how much that annoyed her and Keith found himself apologizing to her daily.

He took a seat and grabbed the control sticks, waiting with barely concealed excitement as the hangar doors began to open. He didn't have to wait long, as the second the hangar doors were open enough for them to fit, Red launched herself forward and out into space. Keith very quickly took control and flew in circles around the ship. He had learned the hard way not to let Red fly without him in control. She liked to wander. But now, just flying around without a clear purpose, they both felt more at ease. They weren't to wander far, that would end badly for everyone. As long as the main ship stayed in sight and they had no unexpected visitors, Lotor would allow them to stay flying for at least a few vargas.

Keith relaxed in the cockpit, staring out into open space as he allowed himself to feel through Red. Lotor said that it was important for them to bond like this. Red had chosen him as her paladin after all. Thus, they had to work as one and that meant feeling what she felt and allowing everything to fall silent. So when there was very sudden radio chatter with unfamiliar voices, to say he was caught off guard would be an understatement. It was too loud, too out of nowhere. As if someone who had Red's exact frequency was suddenly in range. Multiple someones. And they wouldn't stop talking.

"Are we still sure that it's safe for us to be doing this?" Spoke one of them, a large man in a cockpit, awash with yellow light, that looked too familiar for Keith to feel comfortable with, "I mean, we don't even know the condition of the Red Lion or if it's even out here."

"Hunk," another cut him off, a smaller person of the same race whose gender Keith couldn't identify with his first glance, in a similar, albeit green cockpit, "Allura wouldn't send us out here if she wasn't sure that this wasn't sure this is where the Red Lion is."

"Yeah," The first one, Hunk, spoke again, "But floating out in the middle of space? It feels like a trap."

"Hunk, dude, listen to Pidge," Hunk was cut off yet again by the third member, another man in a blue cockpit, "The Red Lion is here and we have three other lions to get it. No trap is gonna get us even if there is one."

Keith paused at that. Three other lions. They had three other lions. That fact alone was enough to distract him without the surge of longing that went through Red at the mere thought of that. Keith was almost thankful that his video was off. Cause he could see them, almost as if he was the one not supposed to be on this com line. And now that he was bothering to actually look at them… to say he was in a state of shock would be putting it lightly.

They looked like him. Not exactly but that could easily be explained away. Similar to how no two Galra look alike unless their related. But that isn't what he should be focusing on. The fact that they look like him isn't as important or as pressing as the fact they have three other lions and are headed directly to his location. It wasn't a thought that filled him with comfort and he double checked to make sure he was muted in the newcomers conversation before opening a private line between Red and the Royal Warship.

"Is Lotor on the bridge? This is urgent."

"Keith?" Lotor questioned, his concern ringing out clearly, "What is the matter? Why isn't your video feed on?"

"Red is picking up on communication between three other vessels. My feed is off so they can't see my presence in their conversation. But their feeds are on and I can see and hear them clearly," Keith knew it was best to get straight to the point with Lotor. Though his words clearly made him concerned.

"And why haven't you cut communications with these other vessels?"

"They're talking about locating the Red Lion-"

"Keith-"

"And they have also said that they have three other lions," Keith continued, not allowing Lotor to finish what was likely going to be an order to cut communications and dock Red back in her hangar. Luckily, Lotor didn't seem to be upset by the interruption. If anything, he appeared intrigued.

"Can you tell which lions they're in possession of?"

"Their cockpits are similar to Red's but in the colors yellow, green, and blue."

Lotor hums, clearly thinking, "alright. Keith, I want you to fly a good distance away from the ship."

"But sir-"

"Allow me to finish, please. Fly away from the warship until it is no longer in visible range. And then contact these other paladins. Give no information as to who you are or how you acquired Red. I want you to assess them and whoever is in charge of them through any way you deem fit short of killing them. If you deem them acceptable… I would like to form an alliance with them when the time is correct. And I would like you to work alongside them until that time. But only if you deem them acceptable enough to work alongside."

"Yes, sir," Keith didn't overly like parts of those orders but he understood. These other pilots somehow had Red's location. Staying too close would put Lotor and his fellow generals in danger. And that is not something he will allow. So he flew away from the ship. He kept the private channel open as he eventually pulled Red to a stop and unmuted himself from the paladins' conversation.

"I'm just saying," the blue one says, "I can't wait to find this lion and go back to relaxing on the couch. It's easy to comfortable to be real."

"Do you really have nothing better to do than lay around on a couch?" Keith allowed himself to grin at the startled shouts he got as he made his presence known, "Here I thought being a Paladin of Voltron would keep you busy."

"Who are you? How are you talking to us?" Hunk asks. For such a large man, he seemed easily terrified.

"Unimportant. Why are you after Red?"

"Hold on, are you in the Red Lion?" Pidge asks.

"Clearly. Now why are you after Red?"

"What? The Red Lion already has a paladin? Aw man," the annoying one practically whines, "Now Allura doesn't get a lion."

"Lance," Pidge interrupts, giving him the last name he was missing while doing so, "we don't have time to focus on your dumb crush."

"It's not dumb. And don't use my name in front of a stranger we can't even see!"

"I already know your names. You've been talking for several dobashes. Just answer my question, why are you after Red?" Keith didn't bother to hide his annoyance.

"We're trying to gather all the lions so we can form Voltron and save the universe from the Galra," Hunk says. It makes Keith pause. The way he said that so easily… as if he wasn't talking about a full scale rebellion to someone he has never met.

"You're mean overthrowing Zarkon?" He keeps his voice even, blank. He can't allow any emotions in those words lest he give away his own feelings. In the corner of his eye, he can see Lotor and the other generals' reactions to those words. They're look as wary as he feels.

"That's the gist of it," Pidge responds easily.

"What about after that?"

"What do you mean?"

"What comes after you overthrow Zarkon? That leaves a power gap and every Galra of high enough rank will kill each other until one takes his place. What's your plan to ensure there is no massacre and no one equally bad takes his place?"

There's a silence after that Keith doesn't find encouraging before Pidge speaks again, "We haven't thought that far yet. We don't even have all the lions to form Voltron yet."

They don't have a plan. They didn't think about the bloodbath that comes from just removing the emperor and none of his power hungry lessers, "I want to speak to your commanding officer."

The three fell quiet at that and just stared into their camera feed. As if he had said something remarkably stupid.

"We don't have a commanding officer," Hunk said.

"You mean to tell me that the three of you are wandering around, piloting three of the Lions of Voltron, with no real aim and no one telling you what to do?"

"Well," Pidge starts, "We do have someone we listen to. Both Allura and Shiro are technically above us in rank but they've said that, as paladins, we're all equal."

"Then I want to speak to them. You three have no idea what you're doing and I'm not going to help unless you have at least half of a thought out plan that won't damn the entire universe."

“Hey!” Lance yells, “We aren’t going to damn the universe!”

“You could have fooled me. You’re just a bunch of children who have no idea what you’re doing. So I want to meet these people or I’m cutting communications and leaving this quadrant.”

Keith could feel Red’s unhappiness as he said his last statement. She didn’t want to cut communications to these other lions. But surely she knew that they couldn’t be reckless. These… paladins… clearly don’t know what they’re doing and Keith refused to jeopardize Red and his family that easily. So he allowed Pidge, Hunk, and Lance time to talk amongst themselves and come up with a solution. They muted themselves but clearly opened a private channel to talk but Keith took no offense to it. It’s not like it took very long for them to reach a consensus. They just unmuted themselves and looked at him.

“We’re going to take you to meet Princess Allura and Shiro,” Pidge spoke evenly, “But you’re going to have to leave any weapons inside the Red Lion. We don’t exactly know or trust you yet.”

“I will adhere to those wishes. As long as none of you have weapons either. Don’t take it personally, I just don’t know or trust you yet,” Keith kept his voice even as well as Pidge’s eyes narrowed and Lance snorted.

“Fine. Stay put. We were tracking the Red Lion’s energy signal anyway so we already have a ping on your location.” Keith didn’t like the sound of that. They could just track him down? At any time? That was most certainly not okay. But he felt a rush of excitement from Red and just sighed and just accepted it for now. Red wanted to see the other lions and he wasn’t going to take that from her. She waited long enough.

Keith muted himself on that conversation and turned his attention back to Lotor, “I will likely have to cut communications soon, sir. I’m being brought back to their base to speak with the closest things they have to commanding officers.”

Lotor sighed, “I understand. Do try not to unnecessarily kill anyone, Keith. But do not hesitate to fight if they show signs of ill will toward you. No alliances will be forged with people who can justify bringing harm to you. I would prefer you come back to us uninjured.”

“But if you do end up killing them, remember to crush the first one’s skull with your bare hands as an intimidation tactic!” Zethrid butt in, making everyone else groan in fond exasperation.

“That’s still not something I can physically do, Zethrid. I’ll just snap one of their necks or something. Signing off now. I’ll make contact again afterwards.”

“Very well. Until then, Keith,” and with that, Lotor closed the channel and Keith was left waiting for strangers to find him.

It took several dobashes for the other lions to come into sight. But the second they did, Red jolted forward to meet them. Her excitement burned at his core like fire and he couldn’t help but grin. The other lions seemed to speed up on their own, if the paladins’ shouts of surprise were anything to go by. The Lions circled around each other and seemed to dance as they were finally reunited. Keith felt at ease with the happiness that seemed to emit off of Red in that moment. He allowed her a several more ticks to purr at the other lions, which seemed to press against the edges of his conscious, leaving him aware of their presence but unable to decipher them. But they had to get a move on. He unmuted himself.

“So. Which way to your base, paladins? I’d prefer to get a move on,” Keith’s grin dropped as Red’s good mood dropped and is instead replaced with annoyance, “Don’t give me that, Red. You can catch up on the way and when we’re at the base. But I need to be productive.”

Lance snorted, “Dude? Did you seriously just talk to your lion like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like a child you’re trying to reason with.”

“I’m not talking to Red like she’s a child. Look. Can we just go to your base, now? I don’t want to waste any more time on this useless chatter.”

“Lance, let’s not agitate the strange man,” Hunk said carefully, “Shiro said we should head back as soon as we can anyway. We aren’t the only people out here and I don’t want to get into any fights right now.”

“Alright fine. Let’s get going then. Try to keep up, uh…. What’s your name again, dude?”

“It’s Keith. Now let’s get a move on.” He urged Red forward and, as she moved, so did the other lions. They seemed to naturally fall into formation, with the Blue Lion to his left and the Green and Yellow Lions to his right.

“Hold on. Keith? Your name is Keith? Out of all the names an alien in space could have, it’s _Keith_?” Lance asks, his voice steadily rising in volume.

“What’s wrong with my name?”

“Nothing,” Hunk says quickly, clearly trying to keep Keith calm, “It’s just a common name on our home planet and not one we would expect to hear this far out in space?”

“Really? Is your species not spread out yet?”

“No. Humans haven’t even built spacecrafts that can leave our galaxy yet,” Pidge explains, “Our planet hasn’t even had official first contact yet. We’re still exploring the planets closest to our’s, which contains no life aside from bacteria. There are only six humans out this far into space and three of them are us.”

Keith listened intently as Pidge spoke. He had been fairly certain these paladins had been the same species as the other half of his genetics. Though, with their lack of advanced travel and galactic spread, it seemed less likely. What Galra would travel to an unoccupied planet and have relations with a local without reporting anything to the empire?

“So I take it the other three are at your base?” He asks, out of sheer curiosity. But, as the paladins fell silent, he couldn’t help but to feel like he asked the wrong thing.

“Shiro is human, too. But Allura and Coran are Altean.”

Keith’s brow furrowed in confusion. He recognized that species name. But that couldn’t be right. Wasn’t that the extinct race Lotor was always talking about? He’d have to report that back later. But this clearly wasn’t a topic to press. So he let it drop and let them lapse into silence.

And it stayed silent until they began approaching a huge, white ship. The design was unfamiliar but beautiful in its own way. He didn’t even have to pilot Red once they were close enough. She rocketed forward, racing past the other lions toward the ship, and Keith watched as a hangar door opened up for her. She purred happily and Keith felt a sense of security as she landed and laid down. There was nothing else in this hangar. It wasn’t big enough to hold all five lions, though three could definitely squeeze in if necessary. Though, judging by the occasional red highlights in the room, he was almost entirely sure this hangar was for Red only, not the other lions.

Keith took a moment to catch his breath and clear his mind. He was about to meet a bunch of strangers, completely unarmed. He wasn’t to share too much about himself until he’s sure he can trust them. He wouldn’t disobey Lotor in that manner. So, securing his helmet and leaving his blaster and sword on the pilot’s seat in Red’s cockpit, he finally exited Red. As he did so, a door on the far side of the hangar opened and a group of people entered. He recognized Lance, Hunk, and Pidge but the other three he doesn’t. They must be Allura, Shiro, and Coran. He wasn’t sure who was who but they were likely to tell him anyway. He wasn’t concerned.

“Hello there. Keith, was it?” The female asked as she took a step forward. Her hair was white and she had pink markings under her eyes, and her dress reminded him of how Lotor prefered to dress during formal events. She was one of the Alteans, “I am Princess Allura of Altea. Welcome to the Castle of Lions.”

He bowed his head in respect, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. I am Keith Kogane, pilot of the Red Lion. Thank you for allowing me an audience.”

She simply raised her hand with a small smile and he raised his head, “No need to thank me, Keith. The Red Lion chose you as her paladin and I wish for us to all be able to work together. Hunk informed me that you have some concerns when it comes to Voltron?”

“Just some concerns when it comes to strategy, Your Highness. I’m more familiar to this war than I am allowed to openly admit. I do not wish to put any of my family in danger with a… poorly thought out plan. I mean no offense.”

They all straightened a bit at that. This was clearly going to be a more in depth discussion than they were expecting. The mustached Altean standing in the back of the group cleared his throat, “Perhaps this is a conversation we should have somewhere a bit more comfortable? Sitting down and not standing in the Red Lion’s hangar?”

“That’s a great suggestion, Coran,” the last human, who must be Shiro, said with an easy smile, “How about we move to the common area? Would that be acceptable, Keith?”

Keith nodded. They clearly meant him no harm and were offering to bring him into a more relaxed environment. If any of the negotiations he had seen in his lifetime were anything to go by, you go along with what makes the foriegn party most comfortable and they become more likely to agree to your terms, “That is acceptable. Please lead the way.”

“Hold on. Why don’t you take off your helmet first,” Lance said, “I don’t feel comfortable in serious conversations when I can’t see the other person’s face.”

“Very well,” Keith sighed as he took his helmet off and shook his head, “Happy now?”

He opened his eyes to see the paladins gaping at him like he grew a second head. Oh, right. They weren’t used to others of their species this far out in space and he already had gotten over his shock.

“Holy crow, he has a mullet.”

“Seriously, Lance,” Hunk groaned in slight annoyance, “That’s what you choose to focus on?”

“You’re human!” Pidge shouts, pointing at him. Keith could feel his features pull into a scowl.

“Can we please just continue our previous conversation? I’m not here to talk about my genetic makeup or whatever a… mullet… is.”

“C’mon team. We can talk about this later. Follow me, Keith,” Shiro says and Keith finds himself relaxing.

“Lead the way.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is just an AU I had a few ideas for. I might write more if it's something people actually want. But as it is now, this is what I have. If you want more of this AU, please don't hesitate to comment.


End file.
